Andrew Ralph Dempster (Andy) grew up in Fayetteville, NC where he graduated from Pine Forest High School. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He graduated from Campbell University School of Law in 1986.

Immediately upon graduation from law school, Andy was sworn in as an assistant district attorney in the 12th Judicial District where he prosecuted in the Superior, District and Juvenile Courts. While in the DA’s office he successfully prosecuted a range of criminal matters including homicide, traffic and misdemeanor cases.

In 1990, Andy was elected District Court Judge for the 12th Judicial District and reelected in 1994. He presided over thousands of cases in the civil, domestic, criminal and juvenile courts. He was one of the first District Court Judges in North Carolina to receive a special certification as a Juvenile District Court Judge from the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was very active on the Cumberland County Youth Services Advisory Board and was instrumental in bringing Teen Court to Cumberland County.

Andy went to law school because of a strong belief that with a law degree he could help people who weren’t in a position to help themselves. In 1996, Andy left the bench to become a partner in the firm of Smith, Dickey, Smith, Hasty and Dempster. He is uniquely qualified having been a prosecutor and a judge

Andy’s major strength lies in his trial ability. He represents seriously injured clients and their children. He feels that best recovery for his clients is only brought about through aggressive representation and many times requires filing a lawsuit. He successfully represents his clients from the settlement stage to a jury verdict. The result has been recovery of millions of dollars for his injured clients and a multi-million dollar recovery in a catastrophic case against a corporate defendant.